Chris Jones injury update: Exploring Chiefs star's availability for Divisional round vs Texans

Chris Jones and the Kansas City Chiefs open their playoffs schedule with a Divisional Round game against the Houston Texans today. The AFC West team secured the top seed in their conference, which gave them a bye in the Wild Card Round. The take on the fourth-seeded AFC South divisional winners, who dispatched the Los Angeles Chargers in their previous game.

The additional rest week could prove crucial to the Chiefs. It allows them to go into this game having had extra time to recharge their batteries and overcome sores and niggles that their players might have had. Given they locked up the number one spot in the AFC before the final week, most of their starters have had two weeks off and will come in refreshed as they try to win the Super Bowl for the third consecutive time.

Chris Jones Divisional Round injury update

Chris Jones is one of those players who needed that breather. Kansas City had a brutal schedule over the Christmas period when they played three games in eleven days. The last of those matches was against Pittsburgh, where the defensive star had to watch the action from the sidelines due to a calf injury. That Week 17 victory over the Steelers gave the Chiefs the top spot in the conference and he joined the other starters in also taking the final week off.

This has allowed him to recover sufficiently from the calf injury and he is expected to start against the Texans. He was listed on the injury report but was a full participant in practice for the entirety of last week and does not have a game designation. He will be good to go against the Texans in the Divisional Round game at Kansas City.

How has Chris Jones performed this season?

Chris Jones has been a star performer for the Chiefs on the defensive side of the ball. He was especially critical in the first part of the season when Patrick Mahomes and the offense were struggling to get into rhythm.

This is a case where the overall numbers do not tell the whole story. The defensive stalwart has just five sacks for the season, no interceptions, one fumble, and 37 tackles. He does not rank near the top in these categories. However, he commands so much attention from the offensive line, that it leaves others free to pressure the quarterback.

The Texans have had issues with their protection for C.J. Stroud. The quarterback was sacked 52 times this year. In fact, when the two teams met during the regular season, Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans specifically highlighted how important it would be to keep Chris Jones quiet. Before what turned out to be the defender's last outing in 2024, the Texans' boss had said,

"For us, you have to have awareness where '95' (Chris Jones) is. No one can fall asleep on '95. You have to make sure you are aware. You have to go challenge him and you have to go compete. That is what this game is about and that is what I am most excited about, they have really good players, they have good players. Let's put the ball down, compete and see what happens."

It is quite certain that the message would not have changed before this Divisional Round clash either. Houston relied primarily on their defense to harass Chargers' quarterback Justin Herbert in the Wild Card round and they will hope they can generate similar pressure on Patrick Mahomes. Because if the Chiefs' offense gets going, the visitors will struggle. Their pass protection has been weak all season and it is not going to get any easier against a fit and returning Chris Jones.